Cimatics is a Brussels-based initiative with structural support from the Flemish authorities as an organisation for 'audiovisual performance arts'. With this focus Cimatics is unique in Belgium, and has built up a strong international reputation in this field.

Next to the organisation of Cimatics Festival, activities include the production support of audiovisual creations (such as Ryoichi Kurokawa, Boris & Brecht Debackere, Arne Deforce, Yutaka Oya and Visual Kitchen), tourmanagement and bookings, the organisation of audiovisual events (concerts, performances,...), workshops and guest-curations.

Cimatics is member of ICAS/ECAS (International Cities of Advanced Sound), the international network of contemporary urban festivals such as Mutek (Montréal), Mutek Mexico, Club Transmediale (Berlin), Todays Art (The Hague) or FutureEverything (Manchester).

As a Flemish organisation in Brussels Cimatics tries to encourage dialogue between the different Belgian communities. Therefor the organisation is member of BKO/RBA (Brussels Kunstenoverleg), and established numerous partnerships with organisations from both the Flemish and the French-speaking community.

Cimatics aims at a rigorous approach to its own field of interest and therefor concentrates on the interchange between the wide variety of existing culture segments. In this way, the festival has always been intended to be an event with a meta-narrative, a node where grass-roots, underground and pop or art become mixed. In short, a contemporary happening with a capital 'H'.

Since the beginning, a great many artists of all sorts have formed part of this collage, this cultural mash-up. In addition, but crucial, is that the artists are challenged to leave their familiar position on a stage in a concert hall and enter the public or semi-public domain with, for example, interactive audio-visual installation and audio-visual concerts.

Cimatics\AV\Platform was born out of this Cimatics festival, bringing rapidly expanding goals and activities. On the one hand there has been a broadening of vision: Cimatics now looks at a wider field of experimental audiovisual performances, but at the same time continues to all it can to tighten the links between audiovisual art, media art and the broader, more popular digital and audiovisual culture. In this way it attempts to contribute to the development both of the arts and of culture in a wider sense.

On the other hand, on the basis of this activity it is building a platform not only for the organisation of the Cimatics festival but also focusing on the production of new audiovisual performances and installations, holding workshops and creating publications as well as initiating a great number of other events.

Cimatics\AV\Platform is an organisation that focuses on audio-visual performances, with the emphasis on those that have grown out of VJ culture and cyber culture. Most of the projects revolve around the interaction (live or otherwise) between sound and image: live cinema, visual music, expanded cinema or DJ/VJ. Next to that there is also a continuous attention for audio-visual installations, experimental cinema, music video and motion graphics.

For more information, you can contact us at:

T: +32 [0] 2 520 07 82
M: +32 [0] 475 497 110
M: +32 [0] 485 984 609
Cimatics vzw
Onderwijsstraat 51
B-1070 Brussels
Belgium
info [at] cimatics.com
press [at] cimaticsfestival.com

Nicolas Wierinck, Bram Crevits, Jurgen Van Gemert, Gwénaëlle Collin, Céline Perey, Erwin Verbruggen, Herwin Coghe, Klaas Ruysschaert, Pieter Deblock, Muriel Claeys, Caroline Michaud-Nerard

Peter Westenberg (vzw Constant), Pierre Huyghebaert (Speculoos) Ludivine Loiseau and Ivan Monroi Lopez (OSP), Stoffel Debuysere and Maria Palicios Cruz, Yves Demey (T2X), Peter Van Hoesen (T2X), Frans Claus, Els Vermang (MediaRuimte), Manuel Abendroth (MediaRuimte), Jerome Decock (MediaRuimte) Yves Bernard (iMAL), Marie-Laure Delaby (iMAL), Boris Debackere and Joost Fonteyne, Annemie Maes and Albert Junior Vandenbroeck (OKNO), Robrecht Vanderbeeken (KASK)

Sam Vanoverschelde, Wim De Temmerman (KASK), Dirk Aerts (CLEA), Wim Staelens (Reizen Stealens), Geert Lovink (Institute of Network Cultures), Sabine Niederer (Institute of Network Cultures), Nele Samyn (BAM), Xavier Guissart, Cis Bierinckx (Beursschouwburg), Stefano Cagol, Maria Tarantino, Ive Stevenheydens, Xavier Garcia (BOZAR), Gerd Van Looy (BOZAR), Tony Van der Eecken (BOZAR), David Gorez (Fuse), Nick Ramoudt (Fuse), Dirk Seghers (Recyclart), Daniel Van Ruyssevelt (ADC Productions) Roger Burton (BRASS), Sandra Kowald (Austrian Kultur Forum), Riikka Thitz (Finnish Cultural Institute), Hash (Samuraï.fm), Marco Mancuso (Digicult), Richard Castelli (Epidemic), Anne Huybrecht (Communauté française), Jeanne Boute (Les Brigittines), Anouchka Raymand (MCD), Anne-Cécile Worms (MCD), Jean Frédéric (Délégation générale du Québec), Christian Ambaud (IFN), Kardama (Pedal), Filip Vandenbempt (Canon), Dimitri Meesen (Bunkerhotel), Sandra Libens (Atomium), …

all the volunteers, all participating artists, all our families, friends and all those we’ve forgot.

ICAS – INTERNATIONAL CITIES OF ADVANCED SOUND

COMMON GROUND

All members of ICAS have spent years crafting unique festivals and events, each with its own identity grounded in strong local connections and context.
ICAS and its members uphold the cultural value of music and sound creation in both an absolute sense, and in the multifarious forms that meld music and sound with other cultural practices.
Unlike the mainstream music business, ICAS members adopt an alternative set of criteria to measure the success of their endeavors, which favors quality, critical reflection, innovation and exchange over profit.
Reflecting on the aesthetic and societal agency of contemporary sound creation against a backdrop of the transformation processes induced by digital technology, they wish to raise awareness and support for experimental and experiential sound and music cultures.
ICAS members understand their curatorial and organizational activities as a creative force that, engaged in a constant dialogue with artists, producers, critics and audience, constructively contributes to the development of artistically independent music and sound creation.
Using a palette of transdisciplinary approaches, ICAS member organizations actively engage in building bridges between art disciplines, cultural fields, scenes and genres with a special eye on fostering exchange between academic musical traditions, experimental music and pop (sub) cultures and between the arts and technology.

ICAS NETWORK

The ICAS network is an open structure that welcomes the participation of new members.
It aims to spark dialogue, knowledge exchange and mutual support amongst international organizations engaged with experimental sound cultures.
Thus it fosters community and collaboration instead of competition between cultural entrepreneurs.
ICAS functions as a creative platform for self-reflection and learning on a global level, calling on its members to constantly reinvent, question, inspire and challenge each other.
Its greater aim is to support its members in building-up sustainable infrastructures to support, promote and sponsor experimental and critical sound cultures within their specific localities and contexts.
ICAS is about consciously linking these structures and places to build a positive form of globalization that accords local contexts and emerging talent greater value within an international framework.
It seeks to realize the value of shared experience and knowledge, to develop collectively. It is based on the belief that this will result in even stronger sustainable structures for its respective members, ensuring their activities can continue to evolve.

ACTIONS

Activities within the events and festivals organized by ICAS members include concerts, performances, commissioned work, exhibitions, participatory projects, educational workshops, conferences, presentations, panel discussions, publications and informal spaces for knowledge-sharing within and between fields.
Additionally ICAS organizes meetings and workshops to define the directions, aims and actions of the network.
ICAS serves as an interface to intensify dialogue between its members and the decision makers in cultural, political and economic fields.
The network meetings also serve to increase public awareness concerning the issues addressed by ICAS and its member organizations.
With their activities, ICAS and its member organizations specifically wish to promote:

• education
• knowledge exchange
• transcultural dialogue
• democratic values of experimental music (cultural diversity, openness, dialogue, process, participation)
• audience participation
• self determined work
• social practice
• emerging talent and local scenes
• artistic experiment, aesthetic and technological innovation, critical art practices
• research
• reflection and discourse
• dissemination and circulation of new ideas and art works
• fair business practice
• polycentricity